I’ve also put together a special edition kit that includes all the forms that we actually use for our clients along with examples of how they should look when completed. If you think they would be useful, just contact us: http://www.kreativewebworks.com/contact.html

Before the Internet, businesses controlled their public image and message through television, Yellow Pages, radio and print advertisements. But now people are openly discussing your business image, products and services on social networks, review sites, online directories and blogs. Not only that, what they say impacts the buying decisions of your potential customers. During this workshop webinar, you will be presented with a step-by-step systematic approach to evaluating, improving and managing your online reputation. Make no mistake, it DOES MATTER. You can’t stop it, but you can manage it! Not only will you learn how to manage your online brand or personal reputation, but we will provide you with the actual worksheets that we use with our own clients.

Right now, I’d like to call attention to an exceptional young man, Andrew Nguyen, who has already served in the USA Marine Corps and then went on to establish himself as an outstanding business owner through acquiring a WSI Franchise. And this was accomplished all before he turned 30!

It is this very appetite for personal excellence and the entrepreneurial mindset that can be attributed to WSI’s new “Investing in America” Program. It’s the first time ever we’ve launched a program this unique. Its primary objectives are threefold: to help rebuild the US economy, to “pay it forward” with various charitable acts, and to open up our tremendous franchise opportunity to individuals who might not have otherwise had the chance to own their own business.

Notably, our Investing in America Program is only available to an exclusive few: young entrepreneurs and to American military veterans. And perhaps Andrew Nguyen’s personal and professional successes are a preview of the promising results we hope new WSI franchisees will accomplish through the Investing in America Program.

As mentioned, Andrew has an admirable history in the Marine Reserves that started post 9/11. And in many ways, it’s his military experience that conditioned and prepared him for the demands of owning his own franchise. Importantly, serving in the US Marine Corps gave him a level of confidence that is fundamental when starting a business.

“As a WSI owner, I follow a proven system and model like I did in the Marine Corps. I adapt to change and adversity. Owning and operating a business is full of surprises, but it is all about reacting.”

– Andrew Nguyen

A Perfect Recruit for WSI

As a WSI Franchise owner, Andrew works to help businesses grow by leveraging the Internet. He’s become a first rate expert in WSI’s leading edge digital marketing technologies, some which focus on SEO, SEM, Email Marketing and Social Media.

What’s more, Andrew’s first month in business was September 2008, right in the middle of the recession! But despite the naysayers around him, Andrew was motivated enough to forge ahead. Nearly two years later, I’m proud to report that his business isn’t showing signs of slowing down. His first year revenue of $100,000 has skyrocketed to nearly $500,000 in his second year!

Lastly, one of the prime factors that Andrew found so appealing in the WSI Franchise Opportunity were the constant innovations made available to the franchise network. We are fortunate to have a wealth of knowledge and resources, and WSI’s head office is dedicated to providing continuous learning, as well as weekly Power Points and Webinars. Essentially, franchisees like Andrew recognize WSI’s commitment to the profitability of our franchise network.

We’re extremely excited about the Investing in America Program. Through it, we’re able to support the restoration of the economy, as well as focus on social responsibility. Particularly, we’re looking forward to welcoming other military veterans and young entrepreneurs to the world class WSI Franchise Opportunity. Take if from Andrew, who has excelled at both ends of the spectrum.

“As a marine, we always strive for excellence within ourselves and will accept nothing less. We look for ways to sustain a competitive advantage at all times. The continuous education provided by WSI is the perfect example.”

No I didn’t make that up, but I can’t think of a better way to say that as an Internet Marketing Professional it’s essential to have the right tools for the job.
In preparation for our Excellence & Innovation Conference this week in Miami, I will be sharing a variety of my most useful tools that my team uses to give our clients a competitive advantage. In particular I want to highlight one of my favorite analytical tools, the WSI WebScan™.
Individual tests cover many areas, including spelling, broken links, speed, optimization of keywords and much more – over 30 tests in total.

Results are summarized into 5 areas:

Search: how well optimized the website is for search engines like Google and Yahoo

Content: how well written the content is

Quality: how well built the website is

Accessibility: how accessible the website is to users with disabilities

Site: overall, how good the website is

The technology behind WebScan was originally developed for FORTUNE 100 companies to test thousands of high-profile websites worldwide. WSI has since acquired exclusive access to this technology and made it available to our clients.
WebScan is now used to test over 10,000 websites each month in over 10 countries. The technology continues to be used by a huge range of websites, from corporations to small businesses, and is updated monthly with the latest in best practice.

All of our consultants are familiar with this tool, but I will be sharing unique ways to utilize the data in combination with other tools that I will be highlighting to the network.

If you would like to see a sample WebScan™ or request one, contact your WSI consultant, or just click here.

A successful Internet marketing campaign is like a 3-legged stool. It needs all 3 legs to remain balanced… and useful:

The Internet is a very visual medium. It requires a reasonable degree of artistic aptitude to ensure that even at a sub-conscience level you are positioned as a professional organization.

The internet is a technical medium. New technology is constantly providing us with new opportunities to market our clients more effectively…The more technically sophisticated the Internet becomes, the more opportunity there is to focus on the third leg of the stool, which is BUSINESS.

The Internet Means Business. Face it, the internet is nothing if it isn’t the greatest commerce engine ever conceived.

If all 3 legs don’t measure up you’re going to have a pretty rocky situation. The issue is that most individuals are either left brained or right brained… They either have a creative aptitude or a technical aptitude. Few individuals posses both. That’s why most successful projects have historically been done by teams… not individuals.

The problem is that sometimes even teams with talented individuals covering all three legs have a hard time knowing where the hand-offs are. At the risk of forcing this analogy…that’s where the “seat” of the stool comes in (work with me here). Te “seat” is a systematic approach tomanaging a website development, landing page implementation, and Internet marketing projects.

Before aligning yourself with any digital marketing company, make sure they have a standardized procedure with repeatable steps. Such as (you guessed it), the WSI Internet Solutions Lifecycle.

If they have a cool graphic like ours over there on the right, they may have actually put some thought into developing a viable system. If not, they may have a systematic approach but I would be sure to ask about their procedures for managing a project before I (here it comes) sit on their stool.

While I’ve been waiting for that call from the NY Yankees to shore up that third base position, I managed to carve out a pretty good living in the Internet marketing world over the last decade or so. I didn’t really do it all myself. I did it with the help of about 1500 of my closest friends.

WSI is an Internet Marketing franchise that I’ve been with since 1999. They asked me to do a webinar for a few of their candidates who are considering the opportunity. I thought I would share that with you:

If this is something that you truly interested in, give me a call at (949) 481-0728, and I’ll walk you through it. If the phone is busy, it’s probably just the Yankee front office. I’ll get back to you.

After his last day of active duty on Oct. 31, 2006, Darren Kincaid stumbled upon a good lead while doing a job search – one that led him to his current job with long-time friend Mark D’Etcheverry.

Since January 2007, the duo has worked for a Toronto-based company called We Simplify the Internet. They bring in about $750,000 a year through their WSI franchise in Virginia Beach. Now they want to spread the word to retired vets looking for job opportunities, like they were.

WSI, an Internet marketing solutions company founded in the mid-1990s and serving small to medium-sized businesses, is hoping to recruit fresh talent through its program, Investing in America.

The program was designed to encourage young entrepreneurs to franchise and also give back to their communities. Franchisees in the program will be required to participate in “various charitable acts,” according to a WSI press release.

“It’s really designed to go after people that may be financially disadvantaged,” said Kincaid about the recruit program. “As they separate from the military, they may not be able to afford a franchise opportunity. It’s really aimed at bringing in high-quality people for a reasonable cost.”

Kincaid is the CEO for their WSI franchise; D’Etcheverry is the CFO. The business partners have seven employees, including their Virginia Beach operation, where they work from home, and locations in Massachusetts and in the Philippines.

Kincaid and D’Etcheverry are licensed to operate under WSI from Fredericksburg to Southeastern Virginia. Their partners are licensed to operate in other areas their business covers.

Kincaid said one of the best things about the business is the flexibility it affords employees.

“Through technology these days you can basically work from anywhere,” he said. “Mark and I even worked off our sailboat for a week. We enjoy skiing vacations and take our work with us.”

While business has been good for the two, D’Etcheverry admitted they’ve faced challenges, like most entrepreneurs coming into a business new to them.

“Our business model is based on a slow-growth concept,” D’Etcheverry said. “One of the things that WSI is promoting is depth-of-network support.

“Although we both came out of a technology-related element of the military, there was some experience devoid in our skill set.”

D’Etcheverry and Kincaid both worked in the information technology and electronic communications sectors of the Air Force.

Still, D’Etcheverry said that over the last year and a half, they have not had to go out and solicit clients. Business has, for the most part, come to them through referrals.

Tammy Glover, the vice president of Tidewater Custom Modular Homes Inc., heard about the team’s WSI services about three years ago through a local insurance agent that recommended them.

“They designed our website,” Glover said. “We had a website previously to that, but they helped us pinpoint areas where the site was being slowed down.”

Since most of TCMH’s business comes from the Internet, Glover said that WSI’s services made a significant impact on the company.

“We’ve been very pleased with our business,” Glover said. “I’d say 90 percent of our business comes from our Internet site. The presentation is nice and it loads quickly, which is what people want.

“Without the Internet I don’t know how our business would be. It’s kept us afloat even in the slow market.”

Kincaid mentioned other business challenges including staying within a set budget and the time it took to gain the skills to be considered expert in Internet marketing. The upside to franchising, he said, is there’s always a network behind you.

“Any early shortfalls or limitations in knowledge or skill is offset by the WSI network,” Kincaid said, “which has highly skilled people and a network to help out.”

In the spirit of WSI’s one-of-a-kind franchise opportunity – the “Investing in America” Program – we are recognizing some of the extraordinary individuals who are already a part of the WSI Franchise Network. And since one of the exclusive groups that this special program is available to is American Military Veterans, one particular WSI Consultant that comes to mind is Army Veteran, Ron Packer.

Based out of California, Ron welcomed the challenge to open a WSI franchise back in 2003 and has since been able to build and maintain a profitable Internet Consulting business. Notably, Ron’s success continues, even in the face of the economic challenges across the United States. And comparatively, helping to re-build the economy is one of the very philosophies behind the creation of Investing in America. Ron is one of the exceptional entrepreneurs who have recognized a formula for success that will excel even in difficult economic circumstances.

“WSI continues to provide additional tools and knowledge that help me update my business model, and they’ve given me the opportunity to work cooperatively with other franchisees and vendors. WSI definitely provides the framework for success.” – Ron Packer

And in relation to the group of US Military veterans that this WSI franchise opportunity is geared toward, Ron has an admirable history with 5 years on active duty in the Army and 21 in the Reserves. It was this experience that acted as a large contributing factor in his path to owning a WSI franchise. You might even say that his Military background instilled in him essential experience to be successful in the world of digital marketing.

“My experience in the Military gave me the skills I needs to operate a WSI franchise. I had the ability to work with disparate teams of people, help identify specific goals and objectives, and develop, implement and coordinate projects.” – Ron Packer

Though this program speaks to the unique abilities of Military veterans, and works to improve the poor economy, Ron is also the perfect example of someone who has fulfilled the third objective of the Investing in America Program: he continuously aims to “pay it forward.”

“All you have to add is personal initiative, ethics and the ability to work with people. As a small business owner, I am more closely aligned with the local community than at any other time in my career.” – Ron Packer

It is individuals like Ron Packer and the success they’ve accomplished as a WSI franchisee that have inspired us in this program’s creation and has assured us that a program like Investing in America has been a long time coming!